"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, or correction, for instruction in righteousness..." II Timothy 3:16
"Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." I Timothy 4:16
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." II Timothy 4:3
Question of the Day: Is doctrine divisive?
No, sin is divisive. That's why we have so many denominations with so many different beliefs - because man in his sinfulness divides.
Dave was teaching on the doctrine of the church recently and he was talking about the local church versus the universal church. He said that in the universal church, there are no doctrinal divides. This made me think - actually it made me daydream about what heaven will be like, when sin is no more and we can see clearly and understand truth without sinful, fleshly distortion. What a day that will be!
Unfortunately, I feel that the study of doctrine is becoming less and less important in the church today because of the divisiveness it causes. Instead of promoting unity in truth, the church has decided it is better not to discuss and "argue," so unity in ignorance is more loving than strong doctrinal stands.
Is doctrine really not that important? Should we sacrifice doctrine for the sake of love?
Well, obviously it is important because doctrine is equal to truth. But rather than expound on it, I am going to post a link that does a better job than I could...
Enjoy...
"Instead of promoting unity in truth, the church has decided it is better not to discuss and "argue," so unity in ignorance is more loving than strong doctrinal stands."
ReplyDeleteI probably shouldn't be, but I am still surprised every time I come across this line of thinking in fellow believers. This idea that the pursuit of unity and love among people must triumph over truth....and even sneakier the message that it is ok to study scripture on your own and believe what it says...just keep it to yourself if it rubs your fellow man the wrong way. If it is divisive, let's just move it to the "we can't agree, therefore it must be a mystery" column and leave it alone. Let's just focus on love.
Is it any wonder why so many in our country say they have faith, but can't articulate what that means. They have faith in the idea of love and unity, and have made Jesus Christ their spokesperson...then they make those who study and question the parts of scripture that make them uncomfortable feel they are going against God's love.
The verses above in your post are a great reminder of His truth. Looking forward to digging into the questions put forth in the middletownbiblechurch article as well.
Desiring to be like the Bereans,
Beth
(This rant originated from a comment on Kathy's latest blog, to which I responded there as well...)
ReplyDeleteYou know what I love? A good, heated doctrinal discussion with the pages flying in our Bibles.
You know what drives me crazy? People telling me what they feel is right and basing it on something they heard somewhere by someone who may or may not have been telling the truth, but it made sense to them at the time...
sigh :)
Just finished a book (Preparing Catholics for Eternity) and the author put it this way:
ReplyDeleteNO DOCTRINE - NO DIVISION
KNOW DOCTRINE - KNOW DIVISION
Simple but profoundly true...
ReplyDeleteAmen! :)
ReplyDeleteI skimmed through the Middletown article yesterday and just went through it again, carefully. 1 Th. 5:21 is a great verse:
ReplyDelete"Prove all things (test by the Word of God), hold fast that which is good".
Great concluding thoughts in the article as well too. Thanks for posting...
(Did you notice, John Whitcomb is mentioned?) :)